A recent report by Citi, a global financial institution, has put Brazil at the top of the nations leading the digital money initiatives in Latin America. The report states that Brazil features a combination of factors that ease the adoption of digital money such as government support and digital payment solutions. Citi: Brazil Leads Advancements […]
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Hong Kong to Kickstart New Web3 and Digital Yuan Initiatives This Year
The city of Hong Kong has detailed the advancement of new Web3 and digital yuan initiatives as part of its 2024-2025 budget. In a speech, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan stated that the city would expedite a Web3 sandbox for stablecoins and expand the digital yuan pilot as part of its digital finance policies. […]
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Dydx Foundation Receives $30M From Community Treasury to Propel Strategic Initiatives
This week, the Dydx Foundation revealed it has secured a million allocation from the Dydx Chain Community Treasury. This financial infusion is designated to extend the foundation’s operational capacity by an additional three years, facilitating the execution of the project’s strategic roadmap. Community Treasury Allocates Million to Dydx Foundation for Enhanced Ecosystem Innovation […]
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Tether Launches Tether Edu, Expands Educational Initiatives in Emerging Markets
Tether, the largest stablecoin company, has announced the launch of Tether Edu, an initiative that will concentrate all of the global educational and learning programs of the institution. Tether Edu will focus on emerging markets, offering courses and hybrid programs in blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), design, and other areas.
Tether Launches Tether Edu to Provide Digital Skills in Emerging Markets
Tether is expanding its action in the educational and learning fields. The company recently announced the launch of Tether Edu, a company initiative that will concentrate and expand the different educative programs of the institution. According to Tether, Edu will offer courses in areas such as blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and design to provide digital skills in various markets.
Edu’s actions will focus on emerging markets, with Tether mentioning Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Asia as areas where these educational initiatives will be conducted.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino commented on the importance of providing knowledge combined with economic tools like USDT, the stablecoin with the largest market cap in the cryptocurrency market. Ardoino stated:
We firmly believe that financial tools, exemplified by USDt, are not merely instruments for transactions but catalysts capable of rewriting economic history.
Furthermore, Ardoino stressed that education was of pivotal importance, serving as a “linchpin for fostering economic prosperity and sustainable development.” Tether is currently hiring to fill several spots to be part of this new division.
Edu is part of the expansion that Tether has been executing since last year, opening its interest and investment to new fields, projecting entering the green cryptocurrency mining industry with 0 million and also in AI, having lent 0 million to Northern Data to expand its hardware arsenal in November.
Tether’s business is booming, evidenced by a reported record-breaking Q4 profit of .85 billion, amassing a total net profit of .2 billion in 2023.
What do you think about Tether Edu and its focus on emerging markets? Tell us in the comments section below.
GHO Stablecoin Hits $0.98 Target as Strategic Initiatives Spearhead Turnaround
Beginning in mid-July 2023, the stablecoin from Avara (previously known as Aave), a decentralized finance firm, consistently traded below its target peg, reaching a low of .917 on October 24. Nonetheless, in recent weeks, the Liquidity Committee of the project undertook efforts to rectify this gap, setting a goal to elevate the stablecoin’s value to around .98 by the end of November. Thus far, the initiative has proven successful, as the committee managed to increase the token’s value to the targeted range.
Avara’s GHO Stablecoin Nears Mark
Since its inception, the decentralized finance (defi) stablecoin from Avara struggled, initially trading at .99 per unit on its first day. However, it has not reached that level again. Over the subsequent 141 days, the project’s team and Liquidity Committee brainstormed strategies to enhance the coin’s value.
Their efforts included bolstering liquidity through the Maverick Protocol, creating a Bunni pool for GHO/USDC, and launching Uniswap Merkl campaigns for GHO/USDC and GHO/USDT pools. From November 24 to November 28, 2023, the value of GHO surged from the .95 mark to the .98 level, a first since October 1.
Since November 28, the stablecoin has consistently maintained a value of .983 per coin. As of December 2, 2023, GHO ranks as the 26th largest fiat-based stablecoin by market capitalization.
On Saturday, the circulation of GHO tokens stands at roughly 34,830,945. However, with GHO trading below one U.S. dollar, its market valuation is at .26 million.
Currently, 980 unique addresses hold GHO, with the top ten addresses controlling 61.01% of the total supply. Moreover, the top 100 holders of GHO stablecoin collectively possess 99.47% of all circulating GHO.
While GHO has not yet climbed back to the .99 or mark, the likelihood of reaching these levels appears increasingly favorable. Currently, the stablecoin has risen 7.29% from its all-time low of .917 per coin, recorded on October 24, 2023.
What do you think about GHO’s parity struggles? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Jim Rickards Blasts US Congress Confiscation Initiatives: ‘The Drive to Create New Currencies Will Go Into Overdrive’
Renowned economist and best-selling author Jim Rickards has warned about the effects of a new U.S. congressional initiative that proposes confiscating Russian assets to reimburse itself for the aid given to Ukraine. Rickards believes that, if passed, this legislation will alert the international community about the need for creating new currencies.
Jim Rickards Explains Confiscating Russian Assets Will Reinforce the Need for New Currencies
Jim Rickards, renowned economist and best-selling author, has alerted about the possible effects of confiscating Russian assets.
In one of his latest posts on social media, Rickards stated that enacting a new legislative initiative introduced this week to confiscate these assets to help Ukraine in its conflict, could alert the international community about the need for new currencies to the detriment of the U.S. dollar.
The “Make Putin Pay” Act was introduced on Wednesday by Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick and would snatch 0 billion from the 0 billion in Russian assets currently frozen in the U.S. to pay for the help already delivered to Ukraine.
Another 0 billion would finance Ukraine’s aid until the conflict ends. The move would ostensibly allow the U.S. to stop bankrolling Ukraine with its assets, as it has done since day one.
Rickards opposed McCormick’s legislation due to its potential unforeseen consequences, explaining the difference between freezing and confiscating assets. He stated:
Freezing assets is one thing. Confiscating them is another. If the U.S. goes ahead with the Republican call to steal Russian assets, the drive to create new currencies will go into overdrive.
Nonetheless, according to the bill, these actions are justified, as it stresses that “for the survival of Western civilization, the United States must continue to face authoritarian regimes head-on.” Furthermore, it declares that “the United States must continue to support Ukraine in a responsible and effective manner.”
New Currencies Ahead
Rickards is not the only one who has recently predicted that the continued abuse of the U.S. dollar will change the world’s economic landscape in the future.
Jeffrey Sachs, another American economist, is predicting that dollar hegemony will end during the next decade because the U.S. “became reliant on using the financial system for the sake of achieving geopolitical goals.”
To substitute the dollar, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), digital versions of current fiat currencies, will become the basis of payments, per Sachs’ statements.
What do you think about Jim Rickards’ opinion on the U.S. confiscating Russian assets? Tell us in the comments section below.
Ethereum Foundation Issues 18 Grants for Account Abstraction Initiatives
The Ethereum Foundation has announced the completion of its grants program to finance projects related to implementing ERC-4337, the account abstraction standard. 18 projects were selected to be part of this batch of grants, which feature different functionalities, including creating educational material on the issue and software that can design operations based on the requirements of other apps.
Ethereum Foundation Announces 18 Grants for Projects Implementing Account Abstraction Features
The Ethereum Foundation, a nonprofit organization in charge of funding and expanding the Ethereum ecosystem, has announced that it will issue grants to 18 teams developing projects built around the ERC-4337 standard, also known as account abstraction. The initiative seeks to empower these projects to grow and become a significant part of the Ethereum ecosystem in the future.
About the significance of these grants and the projects that received help from them, the Ethereum Foundation stated:
Each team’s project uniquely aligns with the goals of the ERC-4337 AA grant, and we believe that the outcomes of these endeavors will ripple through the ecosystem, inspiring new ideas and opportunities for collaboration.
The 18 projects are Zerodev Kernel, Etherspot’s Skandha Bundler, Mynawallet, Blocto, Silius, Schnorrkel.js, Ambire, Iotex, Sixdegreelab, Jam, Tokensight, ZK-Team, Rhinestone, AAA, Unpacking 4337, Hexlink, UniPass, and Clave. Each offers different functionalities like batching transactions, making educational articles and videos on the subject, designing decentralized finance transactions for other apps, and even bundling biometric authentication for already existing wallets.
Account Abstraction Paradigm
ERC-4337, or the account abstraction standard, aims to upgrade the feature set of externally owned accounts (regular wallets like Metamask) to become contract accounts, handled directly by smart contracts. These offer flexibility to implement user-oriented features, making managing security and moving funds easier.
Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of Ethereum, has referred before to the importance of speeding up the adoption of this standard. Back in July, at the Ethereum Community Conference held in France, Buterin declared that he envisioned full usage of this kind of wallet in the future due to the advantages compared to externally owned accounts.
Buterin stressed the significance of the upgrade, explaining that if this move is successful, managing a cryptocurrency wallet will be as simple as using an email account, opening the doors for less tech-savvy people to enter and become part of the cryptocurrency community.
What do you think about ERC-4337 and the possibilities of account abstraction? Tell us in the comments section below.
Change the Code Blasts Wall Street for Propping Up Bitcoin Initiatives
Change The Code, a Greenpeace-backed initiative that seeks to change Bitcoin’s consensus algorithm, has blasted Wall Street companies for the support they are showing to Bitcoin-related activities. On social media, it has called out companies like Fidelity, Blackrock, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs, stating their actions propping up climate-destroying technologies are “unacceptable.”
Change the Code Rails Against Wall Street Incumbents
Change The Code, a campaign that seeks to change Bitcoin’s consensus algorithm to “fix” its energy consumption, has called out Wall Street companies for their support of Bitcoin activities. The initiative, backed by Greenpeace and EWG, has criticized the recent push of financial incumbents toward Bitcoin-related investments.
Change The Code explained that Fidelity, Blackrock, Vanguard, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citi held shares in 24 mining companies valued at over .35 billion, accusing Wall Street of “going all in on Bitcoin” and directly supporting these activities.
It stated:
The climate movement has worked to hold financial institutions and banks accountable for their fossil fuel investments. Propping up and profiting from industries destroying our climate is unacceptable.
Furthermore, Change the Code called on these incumbents to answer for their “dirty investments” and “support a code change to help BTC achieve near 100% efficiency.”
Change the Code Objectives
The campaign to change the code of Bitcoin was launched in March when a group of so-called green organizations and crypto groups started to create awareness of the energy requirements of the Bitcoin network and its possible effects on the environment.
However, the recent barrage of bitcoin-related projects backed by established financial companies, including the launch of EDX, a cryptocurrency exchange backed by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial, and the filing of several ETF proposals by more incumbents, has taken the campaign to the offensive, stating that “these companies are turning a blind eye to these investments like other fossil fuel investments perpetuating climate chaos.”
The campaign advocates for Bitcoin to switch to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus that would reduce its energy consumption by almost 100%.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, completed a similar change in September as part of an update event called “The Merge,” which changed its network dynamics, leaving some miners out of business. The energy footprint of the protocol’s entire operation was reduced by 99.99%, going from an estimated 23 million megawatts of energy per year to just 2,600.
What do you think about the “Change The Code” campaign proposal? Tell us in the comment section below.
HUMBL To Use BLOCKS To Initiate Strategic Collaboration on Blockchain Initiatives
In the blockchain industry, partnerships and strategic collaborations are essential for industry growth and expansion. With the boom of the relatively young decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) market, projects need to collaborate to consolidate on the rise and further drive the market higher. There have been several notable partnerships within the blockchain industry, but the newest that has been making waves is the collaboration between BLOCKS and HUMBL.
Both are currently experimenting with the use of sidechains and bridges to minimize the cost fees on NFTs by close to 98%. With this partnership, HUMBL has become the first among the growing number of companies within the Blocks Builders to leverage the various Blocks Builder’s Modules to build better using BLOCKS.
The Goal of the Collaboration Between BLOCKS And HUMBL
There are lots of things that will be achieved through this collaboration. Both platforms are already working on improving the non-fungible token (NFT) metadata storage across projects like music and video. They are also trying to develop a better “verified by BLOCKS ” registry built to enable users to authenticate, track, and verify their NFT holdings irrespective of their location. Both BLOCKS and HUMBL are also experimenting with BLOCKS builders blockchain plugin modules that include ticketing, real estate, payments, etc., on the HUMBL Wallet and the HUMBL platform.
In the words of Adam Wolfe, the lead blockchain consultant at BLOCKS, “Whether it was Cisco packaging router and switches, or Apple packaging megabytes and cell minutes on their partner networks, every technology cycle has paired consumer packaging companies and the network they run on. The HUMBL and BLOCKS Network teams hope to do the same thing here, in giving global consumers a smarter blockchain grid and simple packaging layer on top of it.”
What is BLOCKS?
BLOCKS is the first legally registered Wyoming DAO LLC in the blockchain industry. They are currently an open-source software stack for DAOs, including a library of governance protocols and friendly interfaces to build and manage DAOs. The team is also open to partnering, collaborating, or joining forces with like-minded entities, individuals, as well as network participants to set the standard for a legally registered DAO LLC. The BLOCKS platform is poised to connect industries and enterprise-grade technologies to the blockchain network by employing an industry and blockchain agnostic approach.
Working closely with Wyoming legislatures, BLOCKS is able to build the first legally registered decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in the world. The team believes that BLOCKS DAO is a beacon of the future and critical to their journey of progressive decentralization. According to the information available on the BLOCKS website, they will pave the way for DAOs across the world as a model of compliance and accountability. You can also join the BLOCKS waitlist to enjoy these services.
At the heart of the BLOCKS, DAO, and Builder Program is the BLOCKS Token. The token powers everything from on-chain governance to enterprise transactions happening within the BLOCKS Builder’s partnerships. More details about the BLOCKS can be accessed on the BLOCKS blog page.
Overview of HUMBL
HUMBL is a consumer blockchain company that works to simplify the use cases of blockchain technology. The company simplifies blockchain use cases across verticals such as payments, ticketing, non-fungible tokens, and real estate. HUMBL is connecting consumers and merchants in the digital economy. The HUMBL ecosystem is being developed to support the over 162 million freelancers in Europe and the United States.
For freelancers, HUMBL makes it possible for them to receive payment from wherever they are and whenever they need them. It gets more interesting with HUMBL; anybody can become a merchant in just a day without additional hardware or even strict contracts. HUMBL also designed a payment app for consumers across borders and currencies. For more details, you can read the HUMBL blog.
Amber Group Introduces STAR-X Internship Program, One of its Talent Nurturing Initiatives
Amber Group, the leading crypto finance service provider, announced today the launch of a new internship program, STAR-X, one of its talent nurturing initiatives. The program offers a four-week rotational internship for juniors, seniors, and graduate students from top universities worldwide. The goal is to provide college students with real-world experience and nurture their career opportunities in the crypto industry.
“This internship program is a natural extension of Amber Group’s ongoing efforts to develop and nurture the next generation,” said Michael Wu, Co-Founder and CEO of Amber Group. “By creating a new pipeline for college students to gain crypto industry work experience, we hope to provide meaningful mentorships and opportunities to the younger generation who will play a key role in the future of crypto finance.”
With a presence in Asia and North America, the Hong-Kong-based crypto unicorn Amber Group has a global team of nearly 400 employees from diverse backgrounds. Successful candidates of the program begin their internship in Amber’s Sales department for the first two weeks, then rotate into other departments such as Marketing, Trading, and Business Analysis.
For this pilot year, a total of six students from Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), New York University (NYU), and Boston University (BU) were selected.
“I’ve heard a lot of ‘rumors’ about crypto before starting this internship, which, unfortunately, has meant bad news,” said Chang, a STAR-X intern who is a sophomore at NYU. “However, Amber Group provides me with an opportunity to dig into the crypto industry and learn about the broader ecosystem.”
Andy Zeng, another STAR-X intern who is a sophomore at Harvard, was fascinated by the potential of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). “NFTs, in general, have a bright future due to their unparalleled versatility,” Zeng wrote in a 20-page NFT report that he finished during the internship and where he presented a dozen pieces of NFTs he owns.
“The crypto space needs greater participation of the younger generations. And NFTs act as a perfect segue for the digitally native generation,” said Annabelle Huang, Partner at Amber Group. ”We are delighted to launch this program and bring their unique perspectives and talents to the industry.”
The STAR-X internship program adds to Amber Group’s various talent development initiatives. According to Forkast News, Amber Group intends to boost its global headcount to 1,200. With such ambitious growth plans, the company welcomes talented individuals from all backgrounds in various roles in trading, technology, engineering, finance, operations, and business development across Asia, North America, and Europe. Interested applicants can visit Amber Group’s career page: https://www.ambergroup.io/careers.
About Amber Group
Amber Group is one of the world’s leading crypto finance service providers, operating 24/7 with a presence in Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, and Vancouver. To date, Amber Group has raised a total of 8 million in funding from China Renaissance Group, Tiger Global Management, DCM Ventures, Tiger Brokers, Sky9 Capital, Arena Holdings, Tru Arrow Partners, A&T Capital, Gobi Partners, Paradigm, Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain.com, Polychain Capital, Dragonfly Capital, and Fenbushi Capital. For more information, please visit www.ambergroup.io.